


Tomodachi Ga Sayin' You Mad Committed

by bubblepulp



Category: Haikyuu!!
Genre: Bokukono, M/M, musician au
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-06-07
Updated: 2020-06-07
Packaged: 2021-03-03 22:54:27
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 7,159
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24583369
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/bubblepulp/pseuds/bubblepulp
Summary: "All the songs you work on together are basically your love letters to each other.”There is so much wrong with this statement until Konoha really thinks about it. And when a good looking new producer enters the scene.
Relationships: Bokuto Koutarou/Konoha Akinori, Shirofuku Yukie/Suzumeda Kaori
Comments: 10
Kudos: 35





	Tomodachi Ga Sayin' You Mad Committed

**Author's Note:**

  * For [soups](https://archiveofourown.org/users/soups/gifts).



The obnoxious blast of BOKUTO BEAMMMM (ver. 3) startled Konoha up out of a peaceful, restful slumber. In fact, it was the first few hours of sleep he’d gotten in a row for the past week, since he’d been running ragged in between studying for an upcoming chemistry exam, fighting off the existential dread of knowing what you want to do for the rest of your life vs. what would actually pay off the mountain of accruing student debt, and learning how to play ‘Funky Town’ on the keyboard just so he could have a soundtrack ready for his descent into madness. So of course, _of fucking course_ , four hours into a nice dreamless sleep Bokuto Koutarou was calling him and Konoha was pissed off enough to answer.

“Do you know what time it is?” He demanded, forgoing any polite social norm greetings because Bokuto Koutarou was and always would be a menace undeserving of basic things like kindness or understanding. For some reason, the stupid big lug had almost everyone he met wrapped around his big beefy fingers, and Konoha refused, absolutely _refused_ to be like the rest of them.

“It’s not even midnight yet, why are you so cranky?” Bokuto whined loudly, and Konoha had to immediately hit the volume button down on his phone forcefully, scowling at the ugly photo of Bokuto that greeted his face when he did so.

“Have you forgotten about time zones again? How many times do I have to tell you-” Konoha started, ready to really lay into him but Bokuto had started drumming a beat, which meant that he had laid the phone down and wasn’t going to hear much of his rant anyway, and he hated to admit it to anyone, but if anything stopped his temper it was the prospect of working on a song.

Bokuto and Yukie had started a band in high school, which Konoha personally had thought was going to crash and burn in five days, through no fault of Yukie’s. Bokuto couldn’t focus on anything long enough to commit to something like making music, and after he hadn’t managed to pick up how to play drums in the first ten minutes, he had been miserable, swore he would never try to play again, and had sulked for a full hour under one of the desks. ( They’d only managed to lure him out with some snacks from the vending machine, and even after that, he had continued pouting with his chin pressed against the desk, munching on chips forlornly. )

But, like Yukie had predicted, Bokuto had started coming in for hours at a time, his natural rhythm and his perfect pitch helping propel him into becoming a decent enough drummer. He still would sometimes get too excited and get ahead of everyone or play wrong notes when people weren’t paying enough attention to him, but he had showmanship to him, a unique way of playing and adding to existing music that Konoha, who knew he was just diligent instead of creative, was a bit envious. 

Then came the rapping. At first it started as a joke between Kuroo and Bokuto, mock rap battles where they made loving fun of each other, anyone else in the room, waxed poetic about singers they admired, the animals they saw on the way to school, etc etc. Bokuto was naturally loud and bombastic, but as he started to really focus and funnel that energy into rap, well, Konoha wouldn’t say they were great lyrics, but they had good flow and energy. Coupled with Yukie’s light ethereal voice, her gift for knowing just what to say lyrically and in life, and shockingly aggressive guitar playing, they didn’t make a bad duo.

They had asked him to join them various times over the years, but Konoha had been more interested in pursuing a degree that guaranteed an actual payout, not to mention the band name ‘Owl Food’ was perhaps one of the worst he’d ever heard.

‘We just put together our favorite things.’ Yukie had said sleepily when Konoha had asked her if Bokuto had thrown a tantrum to get that name. ‘Better that we did it in high school instead of now, or else we’d be the Hair-Dye Girls or something.’

And now that they had released a moderately successful debut album entitled ‘Riceball’ of all things, it didn’t seem like they were going to change the name anytime soon. Still, both of them called Konoha their unofficial third member considering how much instrumental work he did on all of their songs. If neither of them knew how to play an instrument passingly, they called Konoha first. It was highly flattering and highly annoying in turns, especially when Yukie would call him and say something along the lines of, “So you know accordions....” or Bokuto would call him in a panic because he couldn’t remember how to use a snare drum.

But Konoha would be the first to admit he didn’t have the kind of creativity needed to write songs or make music from scratch. He worked best when there was at least something down on a track and he could listen to it and see what it needed. Since Owl Food’s process was generally Bokuto came up with the music first and then would send it to Yukie for fine tuning and lyrics, it boiled down to Bokuto Koutarou sent him multiple emails, texts, and voicemails throughout the week, rain or shine, asking him about his thoughts on this garbled voice recording or what a track needed to give it more energy. In high school, Konoha could dodge Bokuto thundering down the halls after him, but honestly it was a lot less work just to work on a track and send it back to Bokuto. Even if all he did was send him a text that said ‘got it’, it would buy him a week or so before Bokuto bombarded him with questions.

Sometimes Konoha couldn’t figure out what something needed and if he thought a piece had particular promise, he’d change his ringtone to it ( see BOKUTO BEAMMMM (ver. 3) ) and listen to it over and over. He also had a few tracks languishing in limbo that he was sitting on, one since high school even, that if he felt particularly uninspired he’d try to work on them, like reading a well-worn book, one that he’d thumbed through so many times he could probably recite it from memory.

The beat that Bokuto was drumming out for him, on his jeans it sounded like ( and Konoha hated himself for thinking of Bokuto’s muscular thighs in jeans and knowing exactly what that sounded like ), was something new. If Konoha had to describe it, it sounded like an arrhythmic heartbeat. Every time it lulled him into calm, it would stutter and have his own heart twisting to match it. He didn’t hate it, exactly.

“You seriously woke me up for this?” Konoha grumped, but he was already rolling out of bed, careful not to disturb the mountain of textbooks and binders he’d piled next to him in a last ditch effort to absorb all the information while he slept. He went to boot up his laptop, already knowing what kind of synth sounds he could use to help bump up the rhythm that Bokuto was setting, that would match and foil it at turns.

It went on like this for a while, Konoha not paying attention to the clock that had accusing red numbers glaring out at him, and instead recording the rhythm that Bokuto was playing out. He put it on loop, adding and subtracting things from it in a practiced precision. This was the one time that Bokuto was quiet, when they were working on the birth of a new beat, their hushed whispers of ‘that sounds good keep that’ or ‘pitch that up a bit’ the only signs of human life outside of the music. 

Once it got to a decent enough place and the sun was peeking in through Konoha’s blinds, he straightened and stretched, all of his annoyance having long since bled into the satisfaction of creating. He could still catch a few more hours of sleep before his first class, and he felt oddly at peace despite who he was on the phone with. Considering his good mood, instead of naming it ‘Bokuto sucks because he woke me up at 2AM for this’, he decided to ask, “So what’s this one going to be called?”

Bokuto’s answering hum was rough and low, the suggestion of the start of an orchestra before it swelled up. “Akinori.” 

Already halfway to sleep, Konoha merely made a questioning noise, and was rewarded with Bokuto’s laugh, soft and private. “Name it ‘Akinori’! When you’re done tweaking it, can you send it over to me? Oh, and the top ten tracks we’re working on at the moment.”

It was weird that Bokuto would want to name anything after something that wasn’t food, but what was more worrying was that he apparently didn’t keep copies of anything they worked on. 

“Seriously? What’s the occasion?” And, without any real bite, “You wouldn’t have to wake me up if you kept these files yourself.”

“I like knowing they’re safe with you!” Bokuto said bluntly, in the way that had Konoha’s heart beating dangerously against his ribcage, because clearly he needed more sleep to be moved by the fact that Bokuto Koutarou couldn’t be trusted to keep copies of his own music. “And we’re meeting with a new producer soon so I want to bring some stuff to impress him! I really want him to like me!”

“Yeah, yeah.” Konoha said around a yawn, jotting himself down a note to remember to take care of this sometime soon so the stupid owl wouldn’t bother him at other inconvenient times. It wasn’t like Bokuto to get worried about meeting anyone, even though there were times he really should have. Even Yukie, who was pretty unflappable, described meeting new sound engineers, song writers, and producers as ‘worse than going on a first date’. “What’s this hot shot producer’s name?”

“Akaashi Keiji. He’s worked on a few of your favorite albums, right?” Konoha’s eyebrows snapped together suspiciously, something like envy forming in the pit of his stomach. Akaashi Keiji had indeed worked with some of his favorite bands in the past, to the point where Konoha had bothered to learn his name and follow his work. He was good, and from what he could tell from interviews, calm, collected, and very handsome. 

But more importantly-

“Since when do you know anything about anyone but yourself? You’re creeping me out so I’m going to bed. Good night.” Konoha snapped, not able to hang up quick enough to escape the indignant squawk of- “I always pay attention-!” Feeling a bit vindictive, he turned his phone off, plugged it in to charge, and collapsed face first into his pillows.

\---

“Who’s that?” Saru asked, neatly shaving ten years off of Konoha’s life as he had been idly scrolling through various articles about Akaashi Keiji. Despite the amount of times that Konoha had repeatedly told Saru to wear a bell or not to look over his shoulder when he was on his phone, he didn’t take Konoha’s kind advice. Well, whatever, it wasn’t the most embarrassing thing he’d seen Konoha look up, and none of it had ever leaked to anyone it shouldn’t have, so he couldn’t be too annoyed.

“The new producer that Yukie and Bokuto are going to be working with.” Konoha said, leaving the tabs up so he could read the articles later, but most of what he had skimmed had seemed promising enough. Akaashi Keiji liked the sound of Owl Food and was quoted as being a big fan, especially of the unique melodies the band managed to come out with. He had said he looked forward to working with them, and just from the few quotes he’d read from him, it sounded like he was either going to be steamrolled by Bokuto’s personality or give Owl Food some much needed direction. Yukie and Bokuto both were pretty easily sidetracked, and while Konoha did his best to help focus them, he had his own life to lead. 

...Which typically meant that right before crunch time, he’d spend hours on the phone with Yukie and Bokuto both, trying to come up with tracks they felt comfortable enough submitting to their record label. 

Saru, whose interest in music extended about as far as his interest in anything which wasn’t much, didn’t press further into it, instead setting down his lunch tray across from Konoha’s and taking a seat.

“It feels like I haven’t heard from either of them in a long time. When was the last time you talked to them?” Saru asked mildly, the question making Konoha frown as he tucked his phone away to eat his cheap and dubious noodle lunch that was one step above Ramen. There had to be more nutrients in it, at least, even if the flavor suffered for it.

“I talked to Yukie last month, but that stupid bird brain woke me up this morning wanting to work on a song. If he could call this producer instead, I’ll give him a year of my future wages.” Konoha griped, and Saru only hummed at the thought, slowly biting into his equally dubious rice dish.

“Wasn’t it the same way in high school? At least all of your efforts are paying off now.” Which was something Saru could say because he hadn’t been hunted by either of them, day and night. In high school, he had been a casual bystander who occasionally came to help them haul their music equipment around, listen to a few of the tracks, and give feedback like ‘this helped me study’ or ‘this did not help me study’. But he also wasn’t wrong. It was a bit gratifying to know that they were now going to be working with Akaashi Keiji, through no small effort on his part. He wondered if it would be too much to ask to get an autograph.

“Yeah, I guess.” It was said with a grin though, and Konoha turned his attention fully to Saru, arching an eyebrow. “But count yourself lucky you never got mixed up with their nonsense. You really dodged a bullet.”

Konoha didn’t appreciate the secretive smile on Saru’s face, like he knew something that Konoha didn’t so he also added, “Hey, don’t you have that big upcoming test? Want to study at my place and you can listen to the track?”

The haunted look of a man who had just been reminded of his upcoming doom was delicious enough to make up for his subpar lunch.

\---

If Konoha was honest, he would have thought he would have heard from either Bokuto or Yukie the second after their meeting with Akaashi Keiji had ended. After a few days passed and nothing, Konoha couldn’t stand the suspense, or as Komi would say he couldn’t stand not sticking his nose in someone else’s business, and decided to reach out.

While he did text Yukie on and off most days, it’d been a month since he’d actually called her.

“Hello Konoha.” She answered after his third attempt to call her because she often had her phone on silent or buried under piles of notebooks, sounding sleepy but pleased. In high school, Konoha had admittedly been a bit desperate to impress her and had volunteered to help her during a project to create music. He had thought it would have been a good chance to get into her good graces, but unfortunately her obnoxious friend Bokuto Koutarou had invited himself along as well. He had spent more time arguing with Bokuto about what constituted good music and before he had known it, Yukie’s project had been turned in and he still hadn’t managed to as Yukie out on a date or get it through Bokuto’s thick skull that the music on the radio wasn’t the end all be all. 

But in a way, Bokuto interfering had kept Konoha from doing something horrifically embarrassing like confessing to Yukie, who had told him a few months after the project that she preferred girls to guys after shooting someone down. So that had been that.

“Hey,” Konoha started, turning down his music and leaning back in his chair, “Bokuto told me that you guys had a meeting with Akaashi Keiji. How did that go?”

He’d get a more coherent answer out of Yukie, but the pause it took her to gather her thoughts then speak was always a bit torturous. It was only slightly less insanity inducing than Bokuto’s machine gun style of speaking.

“I like him a lot, and he is really good at dealing with Bokuto. It was almost funny how quickly he had Bokuto looking to him for praise.” For some reason, that sat oddly with Konoha, an uncomfortable weight in his ribcage. Before he could dwell on it too deeply, Yukie added, “He was really impressed with the song you and Bokuto worked on a few days ago.”

The emotion from that was easy to categorize, and Konoha grinned, pleased beyond measure that his work was recognized by someone that he admired. He was about to say something along those lines when Yukie continued.

“I know you’re busy with school, but Akaashi thinks it would be a good idea if we all collaborated in a studio together. He thinks that you’re invaluable for the record.” Which would have been nice if not two seconds later Yukie added, “There are some instruments we’d like too, if you wouldn’t mind…”

Konoha sighed as if he was put out, but honestly if he got some of his assignments done early or asked for extensions, it might be plausible. Especially if it meant he got to meet the famous Akaashi Keiji and see Bokuto actually cowed for once.

“Send me the dates you’re thinking about coming down for, and I’ll clear my schedule as best I can.” Konoha said, already pulling up his calendar where he tried to keep track of his life, all upcoming assignments, and social obligations. If the last one was a little sparse, no one else had to know.

“You’re the best.” Yukie singsonged, and even if Konoha wasn’t interested in Yukie anymore in that way, it never hurt to have a pretty girl tell you something like that.

\---

For most of their musical career, Owl Food, and by extension, Konoha, had been too broke to afford going into the nice, fancy recording studios. They had made due with the instruments available at school, what they could borrow from other musically inclined friends, and recording demos on their phones since they were all too broke to afford a computer. 

It was only after Konoha had been given a laptop by his parents for college that they started really making good music and keeping track of all the loops and demos they made. Perhaps it wasn’t wrong of Bokuto to call Konoha to get tracks sent over to him, since he had everything they’d made since time immemorial. Sure, it was a pain in the ass to do it on their phones or Konoha’s bogged down laptop, but it was what he knew.

So when he had stepped into an old furniture warehouse that had been renovated into a music studio, saw all the records on the wall that had been recorded here and all the photos of famous musicians who had cut their teeth here, it made Konoha both anxious and excited. Everything seemed so sleek and expensive that he was immediately worried he would break it and somehow be on the hook for paying for it. But he also wanted to immediately make a beeline for the nearest instrument and just pick it apart, plug it into amps and soundboards he’d only dreamed about, try to figure out how to distort everything, cut it up, and put it back together.

“Konoha! You made it!” Bokuto crowed happily, his big arms waving dangerously close to a few microphones as Konoha entered the room, and before Konoha could even do anything, Akaashi Keiji laid a gentle hand on Bokuto’s arm to stop him from hitting anything. It was a quick moment, blink and you miss it, but somehow Konoha didn’t like how he had noticed it. And how, for some reason, it bothered him. 

So he did what he normally did, which was kick Bouto in the shins until he whined, scowling. He shouldn’t have worried about wrecking anything when Bokuto was in the room. “Be more careful! Do you know how much this stuff costs?” Then, pointedly ignoring him as he wailed, he turned to Akaashi Keiji, holding out his hand for him to shake. “Konoha Akinori. I’m a big fan of your work with Oikawa and the Aces, so I’ve been looking forward to meeting you.”

Akaashi Keiji was somehow more good looking and taller in person than any of his magazine pictures had suggested. Even dressed down in a large sweater and a pair of jeans, his hair a bit rumpled, and his large frame glasses, Konoha would have still given him a double take on the street. He also, oddly, reminded him of Yukie a bit, his manner calm and self-assured, and the way he shook Konoha’s hand wasn’t too forceful, but wasn’t limp either. It was practiced and confident, and the small smile that Akaashi sent him made Konoha think Akaashi already knew way too much about him just from that introduction and how he shook his hand. 

“The pleasure is all mine. These two have talked about you so much it feels like we’re already on the way to becoming good friends.” Konoha laughed a little nervously at that, shooting a sharp glance over to Yukie, who gave him a thumbs up, and then to Bokuto, who was standing stock still and eyeing the microphones around him suspiciously as if he expected them to come alive at any moment and attack him. These two had been with him through some of the most severely embarrassing moments of his life - he flashbacked to the Bokuto’s twenty first birthday where he had gotten black out drunk but the last thing he remembered was Bokuto princess carrying him somewhere or the time he had answered his phone ‘hey, hey, hey’ unironically and only Yukie’s scream of laughter made him realize what sacrilege he’d committed.

“Whatever they’ve told you,” Konoha said gravely, turning back to lock eyes with Akaashi Keiji’s darker ones, “are all lies.”

“You’re not their sound engineer and able to play practically any instrument? I’ve heard you were generous enough to take time away from your studies to join us today, so I apologize for wasting your time.” The way Akaashi said it made Konoha feel like he was back in his class about psychology, the reverse kind more specifically. Luckily, Konoha wasn’t going to fall for it, but it probably wasn’t targeted at him.

“Konoha, don’t let him say that! Show him! Let’s work on ‘Chicken Tatsuta-Age’ to warm up!” Bokuto hollered, rolling up his sleeves as if he was actually going to fight Akaashi for even implying that Konoha couldn’t play every instrument known to man. Konoha turned back to Akaashi quickly, about to let him know despite the fact that Bokuto was built like a brickhouse, he was harmless, but Akaashi was… Smiling? It was a small, fond look, and any words Konoha had died in his throat. 

It wasn’t like Bokuto didn’t have fans or admirers. Konoha had listened to Bokuto boast about the number of people in his fan clubs, how many followers he was getting daily, and how a fellow musician had asked him out repeatedly for drinks. Bokuto was fun to be around despite how annoying he could be. Even Konoha could admit that to anyone but the man in question. He shouldn’t be surprised that Akaashi Keiji might be one of those people, he was just disappointed in his poor taste, that was all.

He shook himself out in an effort to shed those thoughts, plopping himself down next to Yukie as he pulled up the track in question.

“Why ‘Chicken Tatsuta-Age’?” Akaashi was asking Bokuto as Konoha carefully kept his head down, wondering why Akaashi had felt he was ‘integral’ to this process when he felt a bit like a glorified button presser.

“It’s Konoha’s favorite food! We’ve had this track the longest, so it’s kind of like a comfort food for all of us now. A comfort song. Right?” Bokuto turned his golden eyes back towards Konoha, eager for praise or approval. Konoha might have normally said something like ‘I’m surprised your birdbraid could remember all of that’ or ‘what would be comforting to me is you actually finishing this song’ but instead he just nodded, feeling a bit subdued and muted. Now that Akaashi Keiji was here, he didn’t have to feed into Bokuto’s moods.

“Yeah.” He agreed noncommittally, ignoring the way that Yukie was looking at him, assessing and knowing, and how Bokuto paused, as if waiting for more. Luckily, the music starting saved him from either of them saying anything that would put him on the spot.

Having never worked with an actual producer before, much less one that he admired, Konoha hadn’t known what to expect. Probably someone who was going to tell him all the things wrong with the track, someone who would have him tear it all apart and reconstruct it into something that Konoha didn’t recognize, something easily consumable by the masses. Packaged neatly and wrapped with a bow like every other song he heard on the radio, turning it into something he would come to dislike.

What actually happened was Akaashi politely nodding along to the song, and once it had played, asking for the story behind it, what emotions they were hoping to convey, and what did they think about adding strings? It was far more collaborative than Konoha had been prepared for, and despite his misgivings, he ended up enjoying the process. In a few hours, they had shaped ‘Chicken Tatsuta-Age’ into the best version of itself, like going to an upscale grocery store for the chicken thighs and having his grandma make it for him instead of say, Konoha making it himself. He wanted to be annoyed, but mostly he was just excited by how the song had turned out. If the way that Bokuto kept nudging their shoulders together happily like they were in high school again and had just downloaded a new synth program to try out was any indication, he was pleased too.

The wave of productivity saw them through the next two songs before Akaashi called for a break, saying he would go pick up something for them to eat. Quickly, both Yukie and Bokuto straightened with a jarring intensity and played three matches of rock, paper, scissors, with Bokuto narrowly winning the last match by viciously throwing rock. He pumped his fists in the air victoriously, hooting as he jumped up like he had just won the lottery, Yukie slumping back into the couch with a groan.

“No more barbeque, get anything but barbeque! Akaashi, we need to eat balanced meals.” Yukie complained passionately. Akaashi nodded agreeably, herding Bokuto out of the studio entirely, seemingly unbothered by this shocking display of energy from the usually lethargic woman. When Yukie noticed Konoha’s shocked expression, she shrugged, as lax as ever.

“The first time Akaashi treated us to lunch, we argued for half an hour over where to go. By the end of it, Akaashi just said we had to do three rounds of rock, paper, scissors.” The smug look on her face made it obvious who had won. 

“Wow he really knows how to handle the two of you.” Konoha said, trying for sarcastic but it might have come out a little bitterly impressed. Here Konoha had thought he had tried every trick in the book to get these two to behave but he still had a hard time wrangling them into doing anything he wanted them to. Akaashi had known them for little over a week and apparently had picked up all the secrets that Konoha hadn’t learned in years of knowing them. It was a little annoying, but he supposed he wouldn’t be at the level he was at if he couldn’t handle Bokuto and Yukie. It didn’t make him feel that much better, though.

Yukie observed his face without comment, as if she was reading all of Konoha’s rude thoughts like subtitles on a foreign movie, expression serious.

“He does a good job, which is why I feel comfortable entrusting Bokuto to him.” When Konoha sat up straighter, about to ask what _that_ meant exactly, she waved a hand to stop his protests. “I’m thinking about taking a break from the band. Maybe permanently. Bokuto and I have been talking about it for a while, and it might be what is best for me right now. I’m getting tired of always being on the road and away from Kaori.”

Of all the things he had been expecting Yukie to say, it hadn’t been this. The band had been Yukie’s dream from the start, and she had been the driving force behind its inception. Anytime Bokuto had looked like he was about to give up on either drumming or writing his lyrics, Yukie would feed him snacks from her personal stash until he felt better. If Konoha complained too much about how much Bokuto was hounding him, Yukie would help him hide. A good chunk of the acclaim that the band had gotten had been centered around Yukie’s lyrics, a lot of which were taken word for word from her diary entries. There wouldn’t be an ‘Owl Food’ without Yukie, and the fact that Yukie and Bokuto had been talking about this for a while without telling Konoha was hurtful. 

For all their talk about him being an honorary third member, maybe talk was all it was.

As if sensing his mood, Yukie nudged their knees together, an uncharacteristic gesture since she rarely initiated physical contact despite being best friends with one of the most hug-happy people known to man.

“I didn’t want to say anything until I was sure that Bokuto was going to be okay. He still wants to pursue music, and I wanted to make sure he would have someone he could work with before I made any major decisions.” Yukie paused, gathering her thoughts and words together in another agonizing moment. “You saw how Akaashi was with him. He’ll be fine solo under his care, or if he wants to start another band, he’ll have someone else he can depend on. He can’t always be disrupting our lives.” 

Konoha let out a small laugh at that, and Yukie broke into a real smile, leaning closer to him like she was going to divulge a great secret. 

“I always thought that the two of you would be great together. You finetune most of the music anyway, and Bokuto’s been getting better at lyrics.” It was suddenly dawning on him why Akaashi Keiji might think that Konoha was ‘integral’ to this session, and he eyed Yukie suspiciously.

“Didn’t you just say Bokuto can’t always disrupt our lives? Why are you trying to foist him off on me?” Konoha complained, and Yukie leaned back with a small shrug, a relaxed gesture at odds with how sharp her gaze was.

“Oh, so you weren’t jealous by how well they got along? My mistake.” When Konoha let out a small, strangled noise, Yukie only beamed at him innocently. “Please, the two of you have basically been dating since high school. All the songs you work on together are basically your love letters to each other.” 

There was so much wrong with this whole conversation that Konoha’s mind came to a grinding halt, overloaded and confused as to what point needed correcting first. He felt blood rush up to his face for some reason, for an entirely different reason than what Yukie was insinuating. It was rage, white hot, that was coursing through his veins, not embarrassment at being so obvious or found out. Nope, this was just so off base he couldn’t believe Yukie was saying it as confidently as she sang about loving to eat riceballs. “I don’t- We aren’t- They’re not love letters!”

“The last song is called ‘Akinori’ for a reason.” Yukie said, completely blase in the face of Konoha’s mental breakdown. “It’s just instrumental right now, but the lyrics will make it clear enough. Honestly, you should be a bit embarrassed that _Bokuto_ figured it out first.”

Embarrassing was too light of a word. Mortifying was close, but that would mean that Konoha was admitting to actually liking that stupid owl head. The same guy who would squish himself into the smallest spaces possible when he was upset. The same guy who looked at Konoha with puppy dog eyes to count out the change they would need to use the train. The same guy who tagged Konoha in every picture containing a fox because he told Konoha once if he was an owl, Konoha was a fox and thus felt it was justified in bullying him that way for years.

The same guy who had screamed louder than Konoha’s whole family put together when he had gotten into his first choice school. The same guy who he had called when Konoha’s little sister had broken her ankle at the park and he couldn’t stop freaking long enough to carry her to the hospital and call his parents. Then had stayed the whole night with him, sitting in companionable silence until Konoha had finally dried his face then showed him funny pictures he’d taken of Komiyan until he was laughing. The same guy who declared their first song was going to be called ‘Chicken Tatsuta-Age’ because it was Konoha’s favorite food. The same guy who knew Konoha’s favorite producer and band. The same guy he answered calls from at any time of day or night because he couldn’t help himself.

… Oh shit.

Yukie patted him comfortingly on the shoulder as she watched his facial expression journey, which probably mirrored the five stages of grief.

“If it makes you feel better,” Yukie said serenely, “Bokuto only figured it out because Saru asked him a few days ago when you two were going to start dating so you wouldn’t be so ornery.”

It did not make him feel any better, especially because he could hear Saru’s laughter ringing in his ears.

‘That’s what you get for making me study to the love song Bokuto wrote to you for five hours for the test from hell.’ The laughter seemed to be saying, and Konoha put his face in his hands and wondered what he had ever done to deserve any of this.

\---

“We’re not keeping the name Owl Food for our band.” Konoha told Bokuto in no uncertain terms for the fifth time, pretty sure he wasn’t listening. Which normally would have pissed Konoha off, but his heart was thundering so loudly in his chest it was reverberting into his ears, drowning out everything else. Except for the sensation of Bokuto’s big stupid hand in his, warm despite the chill of the night.

After Yukie had dropped both of her truth bombs on him, Akaashi and Bokuto had come back with chicken. Konoha had trouble meeting anyone’s eyes for the rest of the session, and Bokuto had insisted loudly on walking him home. 

‘You have to listen to this!’ Bokuto had whined until Konoha had given in, feeling anxious and excited all at once, like he was gearing up to get on a crazy fast roller coaster. He had an idea where it was going to go, but he wasn’t prepared for the ride.

Yukie had been right, as she always was. The lyrics were… better than when Bokuto had first started out. Hearing a shitty demo love song from Bokuto Koutarou, who he would have said just the day before probably only understood the emotions hunger and being annoying, had been grossly moving. His face had gotten all hot and his hands had felt sweaty and he had become overly self-conscious about his expression, not in the least because Bokuto was watching him the whole time, with a calm patience he rarely saw in him. The jerk.

So when Bokuto had asked him solemnly if they could start dating, Konoha couldn’t say anything but ‘yes’. The big dumb owl had ruined the moment a few seconds later when he shrieked in surprise once Konoha’s answer finally sunk in through his thick skull, but that was Bokuto for you.

They had walked most of the way back to Konoha’s dorm room with the song looping in their shared earbuds, Konoha only finding his voice as they drew closer to the end of their walk. Would Bokuto want to stay? Were they actually supposed to kiss now? It was way too much way too fast, but the smug voice that sounded suspiciously like Saru was telling him it had taken them way too long. 

“What would you want to name it then? It can’t be something mean like ‘Bokuto failed his math test today’ or ‘Bokuto wore his shirt inside out all for three hours’ or ‘Bokuto can’t make his own change for the train’.” Bokuto complained, which was really only the tip of the iceberg of the songs that Konoha had named after Bokuto. Now that Yukie had pointed it out, seemed way too obvious and not as mean as he had been hoping.

Luckily, he had been prepping for this day. Well, the day that he actually joined the band, not agreeing to date Bokuto. 

“‘&n’! It’ll be pronounced ‘and’, like you _and_ me.” Konoha said, because this whole spiel had been workshopping long before there had been a ‘you and me’ with Bokuto and him, so the practiced speech he had rehearsed took on a completely new meaning. If the softening look on Bokuto’s face was anything to go by or how Konoha suddenly felt like he had just swallowed his tongue.

“I like it.” Bokuto said with a small grin, like they were sharing a secret, like he had said ‘I like you’ instead. Embarrassed, Konoha tugged on Bokuto’s hand to stop him because they were in front of his dorm. 

“We’re here.” Konoha said, as if Bokuto hadn’t helped him move into his dorm and assemble all his furniture. “Let me count out your change now so I don’t have to worry about you not being able to do it when you get to the train station-”

Rudely, Bokuto cupped his face with one hand and leaned in to kiss him, soft, gentle, and affectionate. Konoha had no choice but to grab the front of his shirt blindly to pull the stupid owl in closer, to feed him back all of his annoyance. He had always thought -not that he thought about it a lot- that Bokuto would be a sloppy, overly energetic kisser who would end up slobbering on half of the person’s face he was kissing. Konoha was glad to know that wasn’t the case, even if Bokuto being a good kisser raised a lot of questions. Most of them were something he could ask later, when Bokuto wasn’t coaxing Konoha’s mouth open with his tongue and making him feel like a shivering wreck.

“Or can I stay the night?” He asked, looking hopeful, then immediately went wide-eyed when he realized the implications. The panic was so evident on his face that Konoha had to laugh, hands still fisted in Bokuto’s shirt to keep him from windmilling back and hurting himself or others.

Bokuto hurriedly said, “So we can work on music!” right as Konoha said, “Sure.” 

When Bokuto jerked away from him like he’d been struck, eyes growing impossibly wider at Konoha’s agreement. Konoha only snorted, reaching up to pull Bokuto back towards him, stopping only when their faces were inches away.

“You were the one who asked. Why are you acting so surprised?”

\---

Bokuto stayed over, and true to his word, they did mostly work on music. Saru, Yukie, and Komiyan rudely burst into his dorm room uninvited the next day, waking him up when they lost their collective shit at the sight of one measly hickey. Because they were the worst friends on the planet, they filmed the whole thing so Konoha couldn’t deny that they had spent the night tangled up in Konoha’s tiny bed, Bokuto’s big fat arm slung over him while they slept.

The worst of it came a year later when they were putting together the music video for ‘Akinori’, and Yukie had put a hand on his shoulder and given him a thumbs up.

“I got you.” She told him and proceeded to show him a Saru, Yukie, and Komiyan original production, which was five agonizing minutes of footage spanning back to high school centered around Bokuto and Konoha. Watching it had been highly embarrassing. There were countless times they had caught him smiling fondly at Bokuto when he wasn’t looking, so many times Bokuto looked to Konoha for praise, and far too many when they had been separate from the group, sharing a pair of earbuds as they listened to music, leaning in towards each other. 

The ending was a close up of Konoha’s hickey from that first night they had spent at his dorm together, with the date and an ‘I told you so, pay up Komiyan’. When it was over, Konoha wasn’t sure if he wanted to cry or throw up or both. He’d been more obvious than he had ever thought, but then again, so had Bokuto.

“I never want to see this again.” Konoha managed at the end of it, and Yukie only smiled at him sweetly.

“Akaashi’s already approved it as the music video and Bokuto loves it. You’re out voted.”

No matter how much Konoha whined -damn he really was spending too much time with Bokuto- neither party seemed inclined to budge. Which was fine, really, because BOKUTO BEAMMMM (ver. 45) was almost finished and Yukie had assured him they had enough footage of Bokuto doing stupid things to make a full length movie. A trilogy, even. 

He was looking forward to giving Bokuto a taste of his own medicine. What better one year anniversary present was there than a highly embarrassing and humiliating music video? Well, other than the ring that Konoha had picked out a few weeks ago, but that’s neither here nor there.

( Bokuto, after screaming for at least ten minutes, five of which were spent sobbing inconsolably, says yes. )

**Author's Note:**

> A lot of this was mined from the podcast Song Exploder, which I highly recommend, and Google so please forgive anything that doesn't make sense musically.
> 
> Also shoutout to soups and tsubo for their rich discussion on the band name that Konoha would have suggested.


End file.
